1 REPORT ON THE 2016 FINANCE FAIRS HELD IN CHIPATA AND CHOMA INTRODUCTION The Finance Fairs took place from the 25-26th August at Chipata Golf Club and the Choma Fair 13-14th October at the Choma ZNS Stadium. The fairs consisted of a number of activities which include exhibitions, workshops, Match making and awards. Each of these categories involved active participation of the small scale farmers. Prior to the Finance Fairs, training on Business Planning was held and participants were mentored on development of the Business Plans. The Business Plans were presented to the Financial Institutions present at the Fair. ATTENDANCE The Chipata Finance Fair had 14 Organisations participating and 572 farmers and Individuals coming through to the event. The Choma Fair had 17 Organisations participating and a total of 826 farmers coming through on the first day and 446 farmers coming through on the second day. Breakdown of Participants at the Finance Fair No. Name Location Dates Male Female Female Participants Participants Participan Participant Participant Total event % from from ts from s from s from number Farmers’ Companies Governm NGOs/ other participants Organisation ent developm organisatio s ent ns agencies 1 Chipata Chipata 25/8/2016 - 350 212 38% 538 20 10 2 2 572 Finance Fair 26/8/2016 - Day 1 & 2 2 Choma Choma 13/10/2016 541 285 35% 773 30 14 5 4 826 Finance Fairn - Day 1 3 Choma Choma 14/10/2016 288 148 34% 396 27 14 5 4 446 Finance Fair - Day 2 The Choma Fair had a higher attendance in terms of participating organisations and the farmers attendance in general. This may be attributed to the fact that the Choma Finance Fair has been held more times than the Chipata one and the Farmers and exhibitors are more appreciative of the benefits that it brings. However, this was only the second fair in Eastern Province and the farmers and exhibitors are still appreciating the value of them being part of the event. OFFICIAL OPENING The Chipata Agribusiness Finance Fair was officially opened by the Eastern Province Provincial Agricultural Coordinator (PACO) Mr Lumamba. In his speech, Lumamba mentioned that agriculture is the backbone of our economy the demand for agricultural products is only going to increase over time. He mentioned that there will always be people who need food and there will always be opportunities for people who want to feed the world and this makes availability of affordable finance or credit critical for the success of any sector of the economy especially agriculture. The Choma Agribusiness Finance Fair was officially opened by the Southern Province Provincial Planner, Mr Kenedy Mubanga. 2 In his speech, he mentioned that as the Government, they believe that private sector led growth is key to sustainable development of the agricultural enterprises. He therefore urged the private sector companies and financial institutions to seriously consider the potential which exists in the agriculture sector, and develop appropriate technologies and alternative financial products which will meet the needs of the farmers, agro-dealers and agro-processors. The AgriProFocus Country Coordinator, Ms Claire van Kleij, also gave remarks during both events and highlighted some of the challenges that the Smallholder farmers are facing with regard to Agricultural Finance. In her speech, she said that many small scale farmers manage their businesses informally and frequently do not have records or financial information that banks require for lending. Some financial institutions have tried to expand their usual urban activities to rural clients, but the costs of doing business in rural areas are still high and limit their scope. The main challenges with regards to smallholder farmers to access finance are: Smallholder farmers often do not have access to information on financial and insurance products, thus limiting their uptake and utilisation of products available. Financial service providers are unable to reach out to all farmers or are unaware of the Mr Mubanga tours stands at the Choma Fair investment opportunities in particular sub- before official opening sectors. EXHIBITIONS: The Chipata Finance Fair had 10 exhibitions whereas the Choma Fair had 17 Exhibitions. The Market-led Dairy Innovation Project (MDIP) under SNV conducted a Brokerage Meeting in Choma which was held within the Finance Fair. This Meeting was aimed at linking dairy Farmers to Inputs and other services required to enhance their dairy Business. Over 50% of the Farmers that attended the Fair were part of this Brokerage meeting. Participants visiting the COMACO stand at the Chipata Finance Fair 3 List of Exhibitors CHIPATA EXHIBITORS CHOMA EXHIBITORS 1. Bank o Zambia 1. Bimeda 2. COMACO 2. Vet 24 3. MRI 3. Novatek 4. Seed Co 4. MFinance 5. SNV 5. Vision Fund 6. Rent to Own 6. Pioneer Dupont 7. Dairy Association of Zambia 7. Yara 8. SARO 8. MRI Seed 9. ETG/Zambian Fertilisers 9. Spruceland Technologies 10. ETG/Zambian Fertilisers 11. Investrust Bank 12. Agriterra 13. SNV E4A project 14. Bank Of Zambia 10. BHBW Limited 11. Dairy Association of Zambia 12. Seed Co. WORKSHOP SESSIONS The Chipata Finance Fair had a total of 7 workshops and the Choma Finance fair had 8 workshops. The topics covered were varying and the organisations were able to teach the farmers on different topics. The Choma Fair also consisted of the farmers some of the farmers receiving Promotional packs from the organisations. MRI Seed gave Input packs to workshop participants that were able to recall some of the lessons that they were taught. The farmers appreciated the workshops MRI Seed Co During a Workshop as each topic covered was unique and beneficial. 4 Workshops conducted ORGANISATION TOPICS COVERED Energy For Agriculture (SNV) (Chipata and Biogas technology and its use and how it can be Choma) utilised by the small holder farmers. MRI Seed Company (Chipata and Choma) Appropriate Planting methods and how these can help to improve the productivity of the farmers ETG(Chipata and Choma) Proper use of Fertilisers. Farmers were taught on using the appropriate fertilisers required for a particular crop unlike the traditional basal and top dressing. Agriterra (Chipata and Choma) Management of cooperatives and how Farmers can make their cooperatives more productive so as to receive full benefits from the cooperatives. Cooperative Governance Bank of Zambia (Chipata and Choma) Financial Literacy. This included information on Savings and the importance of saving. Borrowing, reasons for borrowing and effective use of borrowed money. Sustainable Integrated Land Management Land Management techniques which include Systems (SILMS-SNV) (Chipata) use of soil testing equipment and how it can be accessed. They talked about mobile soil testing kits which the local agrodealers had recently acquired and how these Soil Testing and mobile soil testing kit Market-led Dairy Innovation project (MDIP) Each organisation part of the Brokerage (Choma) meeting had a chance to present the products that they were offering to the dairy farmers. The Products presented included Financial products, Chemicals, Feed and Equipment Vet 24 (Choma) Management of Dairy ad Beef animals. Topics covered include the mostly occurring diseases and the medication that has to be prepared for these 5 AWARD SCHEME A survey was conducted to come up with feedback form the farmers attending the event. This survey was conducted by enumerators that sampled atleast 25% of the farmers in attendance at each of the fairs. There were four categories that were used to judge the exhibitors. These included; Best Exhibition Stand Best Financial Product, Most Farmer- Friendly Input Package Most Farmer Friendly Financial Product Best Workshop At the Chipata fair, the farmers were also awarded based on the Business Plans that they submitted the COMACO celebrates their victory Category was This award was a sponsored award and the winner received a K2,000 cash prize to invest in their Business and the award was sponsored by Nutri-Aid Trust. The Financial Institutions present reviewed all the Business Plans submitted and chose the one that was the best. The results were as follows; CARTEGORY AWARDING WINNER PERCENTAGES CHOMA Best Exhibition Stand ETG 24.3% ETG MRI 16.2% Spruceland Tech 14.9% Most Farmer- Friendly ETG/MRI 26.6% ETG/MRI Input Package Novateck 13.5% Most Farmer Friendly Investrust 30.7% Madisson Investrust Financial Product 29.3% Vision fund 26.7% Best Workshop MRI 52% MRI ETG 18.7 BOZ 12% CHIPATA Best Exhibition Stand COMACO – 65.5% COMACO MRI – 8% Zamseed- 6.9% Most Farmer Friendly MRI - 22.7% Seed Co. Input Product SeedCo.- 25% COMACO – 19.3% Most Farmer Friendly Vision Fund - 58% Vision Fund Financial Product. Zanaco – 27.2% Rent to Own – 7.4% Best Business Plan Mabvuto Nkhoma from Amulauzi General Dealers in Lundazi 6 MATCH MAKING A Match making session was held during the Finance Fairs. The Match making session was an opportunity for some of the participants in the Fair to pitch their Businesses to the Financial Institutions present with possibility of receiving funding. Prior to the Finance Fair, participants in the matchmaking training were trained in Business Planning and Business Pitching. This was to ensure that the participants in the match making had the necessary skills that they need to close a business deal with the Financial Institutions. The training was facilitated by the Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (ZCSMBA) who also took the participants through the Business Simulation model. With support of partners such as Profit Plus and SNV a total of 32 people were trained in Chipata and this consisted of 30 Agrodealers and 2 Massons that were into construction of Biodigesters. In Choma, 19 people were trained in these represented 8 Dairy cooperatives and 3 individuals. These were supp orted by SNV and Agriterra.